Laura Smyth: From Classrooms to Comedy Clubs

0:00Mo Gilligan: Hey, what's happening people? My name is Mo Gilligan and this is the Beginning, Middle and End podcast. Now this is where I'm going to be asking some of my favourite people about how they started, where they are now and the legacy they want to leave. Now my guest this week started as an East London teacher, that's right, and became an award-winning multi-platform comedian. Now she was a late start to comedy and her story shows passion that can blossom at any stage of life. Now, she talks about how she saw comedy as the unalive life that now she gets to fully live. Here to tell her hilarious, inspiring story and to talk about her brand new podcast called I Shouldn't Laugh.

0:42Mo Gilligan: But please welcome to my podcast, the hilarious Laura Smith. I didn't know that you was a secondary school teacher. I was in East London. Yeah, because you're from East, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. What part East are you from? Like Forest Gate near Stratford Way. So I taught in like Forest Gate. proper east london yeah yeah yeah and i still see the girls that i taught so funnily enough i taught in i i was a sarah bannell girl in stratford rokeby wires and um i sort of taught in the rival girl school actually so my best mate natalie is just like i still want to run them over but yeah it's fun what made you get into teaching well i i always loved english when just growing up books were my thing and I loved it and um for some reason when I left school I didn't go and do an English degree and then end up having a child I had my first baby when I was quite young you know just a bit lost and I was a little bit like you know become one of the baby mums after school and I thought that weren't going to be me but you know it was that and I was in sort of temporary accommodation with her and on my own with her and I bumped into my A-level English teacher and she sort of said to me what are you doing I was like oh I just had a bad boy you know And she said, why aren't you doing an English degree?

1:53And it was sort of telling off. And my housing officer at the time, who was really helpful, the mother and baby sort of hostile, she said she helped me work out how I could go and do my English degree and without, you know, sort of, well, let's face it, messing with my benefits too much. But I went back and did my English degree and I loved it. And then I did a placement in a school and I thought, God, this is it. And I think there was part of me being a teacher, you know, growing up, like if we if we were in if we had a project like tell us about your mum and dad, my mum would be like, who wants to know?

2:27Do you know what I mean? But that sort of thing of like it being very clear lines that if my daughter that I was raising said, you know, what does your mum do for living? My mum's a teacher. And, you know, it felt like it felt legit. It felt like I was doing the right thing. So, yeah. And I just loved it. I can't even say anything other than that. I taught locally. I loved my students. And, yeah, it was just great until it weren't.

2:55Mo Gilligan: Because, you know, like, secondary school, I say, like, secondary school is you're kind of having to manage, like, teenagers, you know, but also you're also having to, I feel like you've got to manage feelings as well. Oh, my God. Because they're going through it, especially that part of their life you've got early adolescence which is like from let's say like what 11 12 yeah and then where they really think they're adults at like 15 16 do you know what i mean how was that for you like being a teacher well there's a joke in teaching when people say what do you teach and people say children and it's like yeah good one but it is that your teaching is about connection and i never liked school and i never really got school and i I was like a bit wired and wild.

3:42I was bright because I like to read and I got good results without much effort, you know. But I kind of understood the kids that didn't get it. And I was ahead of year quite quickly that takes care of the pastoral side because I'm not trying to make myself a saint, but I got it. I got why these teachers that wanted to play the big sort of authority figure didn't really work with them because sometimes you'd watch a kid come into school, you know, it's like, and, you know, they've got their five past nine and then they're down their throat. And I think, you know, you look at a kid and think, I can tell from their shoes the effort it probably took to get themselves to school even five minutes late, even at all.

4:17So I always say you meet them where they are. Same as comedy. You've got to meet them where they are. And actually, I always talk like that. I always talk them as kids that are going through stuff. And it's a wild time. You couldn't pay me. Even with the waistline I had back when I was a teenager, you couldn't pay me to do it again. Because it's ugly and it's messy. And, you know, if you spark a little bit of love for the subject, the rest is easy. Do you know what I mean? So that was the skill, really. That is the skill. More than I know about English and nouns and pronouns and, you know, prepositional phrasing and character.

4:57That's not it. What would make you know things? Like, I'd even say sometimes, I don't know, like if you're teaching structure of a poem. I don't get it. Like, what do you mean by structure? I said, all right, let's say you sent a long, long, long, long, long text to a boy, really long text, laid out your feelings. And he texts you back six hours later with K-Cool. They're like, ooh. And I said, well, why is that bad? They went, well, because you've done all that big, long bit and he's done that little bit. Plus, there's a huge gap. I said, that's structure. Do you know what I mean? So you go, that is, you see them where they are and they get it.

5:29Mo Gilligan: I was a cool teacher. Do you think you was a cool teacher? Because you give me the vibes that you was a cool teacher. and the reason why I ask that is because growing up in, when I was in school the teachers that I could connect with are the teachers that I could immediately relate to that felt like you know my drama teacher I still talk to her and I have another drama teacher Mr. Harris that I still talk to him but they're the teachers that felt like real people and then there was a teacher second do you know what I mean? Because that is what it is, it's relationship because the reason you're probably friends they saw you and you're not you're not an idiot you you know when you're just you know when someone hasn't seen you and teachers are stressed you know teachers have a tough time of it and and i i fear in the state of things teachers have less and less space or capacity to you know kind of really see children and allow for their differences and allow for their individual talent because the pressure is on them and they've got very few resources and a lot of pressure to get results so the kids get less and less individual attention and time and you know i talked for 10 years and i felt the kind of you know how tough it was getting um i mean there'll be some there'll be some kids that go oh yeah i was miss taylor miss taylor was so rude man because you gotta be tough on some classes but you know i think i was cool in the respect that i was genuinely i genuinely was interested in them and wanted results and you know and and and to help some kids out but you know there'll be loads of kids that were like no she's just all shouting at me down the corridor so there was all that but yeah there's there's kids that i'd have come to my shows and stuff like that and yeah so i think i was i think i was quite cool in short yeah i was probably quite cool was you growing up before you became a teacher was because i feel like with east london i grew up in south london but east london had such a melting pot of a community but it's almost like the originator of like you know like cottony rhyming do you know what i mean like markets and stuff yes it's it feels like it always started in east london even if you look back at it like history and stuff oh yeah so like when you look at like east london it's definitely like you know you think of like you still got like Spittlefields, is it Spittlefields Market?

7:52No, what's the fish one? Billingsgate. Yeah, and stuff like that as well.

7:59Mo Gilligan: And then you hear of like the past with the craze and everything but even to this day, East London still feels like it looks like London in some ways. Yeah, I know what you mean. All my South London family always like, that's covered in dust, isn't it? That's a joke. But there is, because obviously the docks and things like that and industry and factories. I mean, South London's positively leafy compared, do you know what I mean? You think of the big parks and wide streets. It's mad, isn't it? Like, you know, the East London I grew up in in the 80s, there was like meat wagon police fans at the school at the end of my street because there was race riots, do you know what I mean?

8:38It was like where BNP was coming up and then like between black and white, then black and white versus Asian. And then it all, because there's such a strong immigrant communities, and what I mean it's like there's layers and layers and layers because it's so funny because I think people can theorise about their sort of prejudices but in East London people are met with their prejudices and have to get over them quite quickly

9:00Mo Gilligan: do you see what I mean yeah yeah yeah of course so it's funny it'd be like oh then it'd be especially because I taught in a Catholic girls school and that often reflects the immigrant community as well so in the 50s it was all Irish and then you come into the 80s and it was all Caribbean and then it moved into all West African and then it started being South American and Eastern European. So then it'd be like everyone, oh, hang on. It's all, you know, it's all like, it's not Tolu, it's Victoria. Do you know what I mean? And sort of thing. And so, yeah. And you think of music, you know, the grime scene and everything.

9:32Oh, yeah, man.

9:32Mo Gilligan: You know, come on, Stormzy. You're just late to the party. No, I just don't. But like, but that came out of like, you know, like Rex Club and like, you know, where Jungle and Garage and then just Pirate Radio getting on the mic. And then that became its own thing. do you know what I mean and and uh so it is a great place it's a great place to know yourself really because because you're faced with everyone and everything and and even where I live it's getting gentrified and I mug it off but it's always been quite cool as well like actually it's all good I don't mind because I feel like East London was like when the gentrification started happening it was East London first yeah yeah you could see your hackney and your shoreditch Dawson, Hoxton and in South it was like Peckham's working hard Oh yeah, yeah, yeah Peckham, you know, I mean there was no Franks or no Bussey building back then but did you feel like East London gave you like a lot of character but also your humour as well because I feel like people from East are quite funny, you lot are quite loud South we go everywhere but East Londoners you lot are quite loud we know you're in the room do you know what i mean like do you know what's so funny every east london would say that about south london because a lot of my family are south yeah because um yeah and it's so funny but it's loud in a different way i think south londoners have got a little bit of gloss about them they turn up and i think i think we're loud but we're like we have this loudness but i don't know east londoners have a bit more ownership of their loudness yeah i feel like we're a bit like yeah like come on self we're here you're like chill out we're not a country man do you know what i mean like but east is almost like you're like the original cockneys oh yeah yeah there's some bite in everything you've got to be quick or you're not quick or you're done for do you know what i mean so yeah yeah you've got a show like you look look like you know where you're going and what you're saying and and you know i see it in my kids and my kids are pretty much you know you're gonna find it once you start those kids are pampered right so they're pampered and fine but they know they've got to be really quick.

11:37Like, you know, my brother gives it to my sort of 10 year old little ginger ring lit daughter and she knows she's got to be on her toes because that was it. And I think that was the currency in my family as well. Like my dad was like a proper geezer and all the bants and all that. And if you couldn't keep up with him, even if you were like six, if you couldn't keep up with him, why are you even at the Sunday table? Do you know what I mean? Why are you here? If it ain't funny, don't chip in basically. so I think that's I mean that's the joke in comedy isn't it it's like you don't want the root one low hanging fruit you've got to go for the seventh eighth thing that the audience ain't even thought of I thought well that's a game I've been playing my whole life you go harder than and quicker than anyone else can do it

12:15Mo Gilligan: before you sort of thing that's the game like all my brothers and sisters are so funny everyone we know is do you know what I mean everyone's just like it's just like yeah do that or sink or swim man yeah because it's like it's so interesting with like how unless you you know unless you've lived in London how each part of London is so different but like we're all the same but you know if someone's from east you know you can go out and be like you're from east isn't it it's such a weird thing that we're able to do even down to like you know if you're abroad I can hear like a Dagnum accent or an Ilford accent or like customised Calentown because they're built different I spoke to a girl the other day and I knew she was East but I couldn't place her accent and I'm thinking and she was Isle of Dogs and I thought that's it because you're on the island that was so individual as well and it is you just have that comfort I've met comedians on circuit and I just know I just know they're from East you know what's always funny for us lot from being from South London is that in East you like you guys would have different words yeah yeah so one of the words when I was young growing up was one of them was Nang yeah and I was like what's this man what are you not talking about man it's like yeah yeah bruv that's nang bruv and he's like my friend's like nang bruv what is this word they're talking about in east i think one of them was a muck yeah no bruv you're a muck bruv it's like what i know well i think muck must come from more some that's some arabic middle eastern stuff i don't know i remember that word because there was a clash of dizzy rascal and lethal b yeah and i remember just hearing on the mikes yeah and it was like shut up bruv not a muck bruv not a muck and me and my friends are like hey bruv what's that yeah that's funny my brother used to edit those that's where it's funny yeah yeah so he's sort of been deep yeah it's mad isn't it yeah he's done a few like crime videos so I just love it I know like it's mad those sorts of things because I think peak took a long time or peak and a myth that weren't in the east for a long time you know people are like oh that's peak yeah yeah yeah oh that's a myth people go oh yeah that's a myth yeah that's a myth and what was it but yeah because another one where we go it's like trust me we go yeah trust but c-h-u-s that is a real old school you know yeah yeah yeah trust trust trust and they go scheme and then i'll still drop a chief if someone will me and my mates will still and i've got mates they're like my essex here and they'll go um i'll probably just cotch on like just cotch oh that's so old school a cotch do you know what I mean and then we'll go oh like just being a chief like we'll talk about our own kids we're in a group chat we're like just being a chief today our five year old daughter and it's like let it go you're in your 40s it's so mad because also like when there was slang when I was younger and I'd hear some of the oldest say it and then like one of them was star that was a big one Yeah, Star was, yeah.

15:26Mo Gilligan: He's like, what are you saying? Yeah, Star. And I'm like, Star? I'm like, I heard it recently and I was like, bro, you must have just got out of prison because who is still saying that? Like, I remember being young and like seeing someone older is on the block and like, do you remember Yes, Yes? Do you remember that one? Yeah, yeah, yes, yes. The double head nod. Yes, yes. I know, we'd get this guy, some people would say, Yosh, Yosh, my size. They'd say that and be like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Hello, hello. Yes, yes, yes. And yeah, yes, yes. What else? Oh, yeah, funny ones. But yeah, when people still drop them, but there was always people going, anyway, two twos.

16:01Mo Gilligan: Two twos now, yeah? That one got definitely taken over by little middle class white girls. They were just like, and they got like, two twos, yeah. Have they two twos, yeah? I'm like talking to like Brandon and I'm like, oh no. But you asking about whether I was a cool teacher. Yes, I was in a lot of respects, but the minute you try and be cool, just go away. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Sometimes I try and play tunes and they go, how do you know about this tune? It'd be like, you know, Biggie Smalls Juicy but like because I was your age when it came out like it's my song but you know the minute you try and be cool or try and use any sort of slang they're like I would rather die than hear a old white woman say that word it's when teachers do it now or people that are like my age and I'm like come on man you're too old to be being to using yeah man you know what I mean like she ain't got no riz I'm like bro you are 35 that's not who are you How old is this girl you're talking to?

16:56Mo Gilligan: Because it's not a word you should be using. You feel it, don't you? Yes. It's like comedy. Like we were talking about comedy. You know, you can feel it when something don't ring true. And the audience can. And I had a silly joke about, you know, some people like flashbacks from your 20s. And I went, cool, the group chat. And there was a little hesitation. Oh, yeah, I didn't have group chats in the 20s. And it was just a little joke. But I thought they can feel things that don't ring true. and people but the problem with slang is you start using it as a joke and then you start using it I was in Australia and we was doing these meet and greets and these two Australian girls and they must have only been like 18, 19 and it was like the first thing the girl said to me she was like Mo Suck your mum I was like sorry I was like what I was like I was so jet-lagged and I was like what the fuck is going on here suck your mum with a smile I was like what and she was like yeah mate can you say it say the phrase mate we watch your comedy mate suck your mum and I was like yeah no no no don't ever say that to anyone else ever again if we were in prison I'd be slicing you I said listen man I know we're in Australia but don't go up to people who wouldn't say that.

18:21Mo Gilligan: It's like, you'll die. You'll just die. Red rag to a boss. Oh, man. Suck your mum. Suck your mum. The way she's done with that, suck your mum. I paused. I said, oh, Gerard, who's she talking to, bro? Is that a bit? It took me out and I was like, oh, okay. They've seen some of my comedy. Now that's their in, innit? Fucking hell, man. That's your merch for the next tour. Is that a bit yet? You've got to do that. That's so funny. Suck your mum. But speaking of comedy, like when you started you've been doing comedy for what five like you like i feel like your rise was extremely quick yeah and i think you know what it was as well with your rise as well because i think you were one of those comics that off the back like you're extremely relatable yeah do you know what i mean you was one of those comics that like you're you're very relatable but also you have a gift of you're very likable and to to have both is quite i believe it's quite rare yeah i don't i don't mean to say that every comic isn't likable but i've been instantly where people just be like i just like that person yeah i'm going to their gig yeah like where you've got some people's oh they're really funny i'm gonna go to their gig yeah but some i feel like you have a really unique gift of like you're someone who's very funny but you're also very likable and again again i always feel like when it comes to being a comic it's like i just my i my belief is you don't have to be the funniest person on stage i think as long as you are confident in your material however you do whether you're witty or political or silly as long as you're confident in it you'll always make people laugh but then it's always having those little tick boxes of like oh i feel like i know this one yeah yeah mate do you know what i mean yeah i think it sort of links back to myself as a teacher and i've always worked with young people and i i i always think comedy should feel safe and kind and that's not to say you can't say raw things or mad things but you can say that with a smile it's like when you've got a mate that says these outrageous things and you go but somehow they can get away with it because you feel safe in their presence and when someone's not sure about themselves you don't feel safe in their presence it's like if you're dating it's like oh can i kiss you well you could until you did that do you know i mean you need to know someone's sure about what they're doing and and um and so i think people feel safe in my comedy even and i say some mad stuff but they're like oh okay she said it so it's all right and it is that's where the confidence comes from and in terms of being likable it's like you know the comedy i grew up in i came at it late i was in my late 30s so i know i know i knew i was when i started do you know and and there was no sort of waiting for permission.

20:58Mo Gilligan: It's vital, isn't it? Yeah, man. When you know who you are, you don't get, like, gassed about things that if you didn't know who you are, you could lose yourself. Yeah, listen, I don't think I could have done it in my 20s. I sort of joke about young guys on the second, but I just don't know how they do it. That confidence to get up there. And actually, sometimes they're on there, they're doing it for a long time, but it's more because, you know, you've got to bed in in who you are. and I'll give you an example. You know, if you're on holiday with a group of y 'all and everyone's sort of like, oh, should we eat here?

21:32Should we do this? If you've got a mate that goes, do you know what? I've booked this restaurant at seven. Everyone get in a shower and meet you in the foyer for a drink at half six. Everyone goes, oh, but you know what I mean? Everyone relaxes, don't they, Mo? Everyone's just like, you can be too, so when you're just sure of what you're doing, people just go, yep, I'll follow that guy and, and, and, you know, I like to think I'm like, because you know i'm a huge fan of yours and i where your blow up was so like with the with the instagram i think but all the couple accounts it was just this everyone just felt safe but with you didn't they because it was that feeling of like you know he knows people you know he knows black people white people nutcases off the estate you know there was just this massive sort of feeling of like this is representing stuff we all recognize and it was just so like and so it's nice to that's a nice compliment to come from you because i would just yeah man hundred percent my mum loves the channel four advert where they gave the feedback have you seen the channel four advert where they they listen to the feedback and then you come up and it goes no one had anything bad to say

22:36Mo Gilligan: about mo because the way my mum loves you do you know i mean so it was this year and that's what they said about my you know like it's that kind of but it's true it's like yeah yeah 100 but um i don't i think you can say crazy things and true things and harsh things and it's almost a relief to people as long as it's said nicely because actually we're all alone in our mad little thoughts and so that's when comedy steps in and goes actually don't you view it a bit like this and people go oh yeah thank god yeah i was pleased when trump banned paper straws actually thanks for saying it i hate them oh phew oh i can i can breathe now but like five months in you won a funny woman award as well right yeah that's a big deal man that is a big deal especially five months into comedy wild but you know you know um i do i just went out all guns blazing because i was teaching full time i had three kids i weren't here to mess about i weren't here to have a few pints and go for drinks afterwards i was here i came you know i won't make no bones about it i I didn't have time to mess about.

23:38So I did a, yeah, I just had submitted my video a couple of days before it closed and then got through it, got through it. And there was just this feeling when I got to the final, I thought, God ain't brought me this far to be a runner up. I just had this feeling, I just had this feeling.

23:56Mo Gilligan: Did you also like, look at who you was up against. You're like, that was funny then, man. Forensically. Yeah. And I mean, forensically, I went to see, I mean, I went to see I thought because I am I think I have got a bit of a we all have a competitive mentality and I'm not shy about it especially in a competition man oh yeah because it's a competition but I I have to know what I'm up against so I thought yeah me on my best day yeah yeah yeah yeah it's just it's just making sure I guess in that moment you're like as long as I do what I need to do yeah it it will it will hit where it needs to hit yeah and also knowing that you're like I guess at that point I've got nothing to lose from this yeah and like I've done some of those competitions.

24:37Mo Gilligan: Obviously, I didn't do funny one, but I've done like Amuse Moose, Laughing Horse. None of them I won, but like, you know, I might get like third place. One of them I got like, I think one of them I didn't win, but it was like most notable thing or whatever. That's nice. So a part of me, I was just like, even if I don't win, I know that eventually one day I'm going to be touring and everything else. and this is just my catalyst but also I just knew that you go and do the final in Edinburgh I was like, I just know my audience ain't here though do you know what I mean? And that's when they talk about the odds being stacked against you know I'm doing, Edinburgh is for a certain type of consumer and you know often people rush to do their hour and they're not even doing it in the clubs, I hand on heart wanted to be a club comedian, you know I've met Richard Blackwood for the first time just at Glastonbury recently right and that's what I grew up watching big bombastic comments at comics at like Hackney Empire and Stratford Theatre Royal you know these mixed bills where that's what I thought comedy was I didn't know comedy could be all I'll say, you know I didn't know it could be like that I thought you had to be big, bold, Mickey Flanagan Peter Kay, you know big acts, that's who I like so I came out like that so I make no bones about it, give me the clubs and even when you know this industry is not always straightforward you get a lot of knocks and I have to always remind myself that if I spent the rest of my life as a club comedian that is joy to me being like being a working club comic is like it's not for the faint-hearted it's really not but i think i'd always take that over just go into edinburgh every year and doing an hour because i think i know that my audience ain't there and for some people their audience is there they're very successful there i just knew going there, there was no one that felt like I could relate to that was just like, cool.

26:32Mo Gilligan: You know, there's some acts that perform and I was like, oh, this is really good, really talented. But I know like I ain't selling out a show back to back for a month. I just know that. Yeah. Like you've got Americans there like, oh my God, the castle, man. You got the cannon. I was going to watch some comedy. They're not seeing me. No, no. And you don't want that. And did you come up on the Black Circuit, Urban Circuit one? Yeah, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the black circuit was my route in. And then I knew from then on, I was like, okay, I want to try and do some other shows now. So I try my stint at trying to do some of the clubs up the creek, Top Secret, you know, boat shows, and then do some of these other smaller shows outside of London, you know, which were shows that, like Bracknell Comedy Club, for example, where I was like, oh, all right, cool.

27:18Mo Gilligan: And you go down, there's a little cellar in this packed room. And it's just many locals that go there, but then realised, I was like, oh right these don't really like it yeah they really like but then going to edinburgh was like okay cool i'm gonna perform every day and i think there is that the hard graft and i always say like to comics just go there even if you just watch yeah because you might go there and say you know what i want to test myself to see if i can and we had shows where people would come and they would laugh but just knowing that like after like you know like when the people the real people of edinburgh they don't even go and that's when you're a bit like not even the real Scottish people of Edinburgh go it's not a fair I think it's not a fair playing field in the sense people intellectualise people self edit when they're too kind of academic as well so even in the crowd they're like am I allowed to laugh at that or what have you going from the black circuit to the mainstream circuit is just like you think this is easy because going from the mainstream and doing black psychic you know listen if you have a great gig you have a great gig it'll be the best gig of your life but what I've realised is they don't care about you they care about you're going you know what it's like you don't go I went on a date you say you know what it's like you go on a date you know he's already splitting the you know whatever you say you because it's like it's such a different beast of like You have to bring it harder And I think that's good It's almost like I'm going to take you on this journey We're on board as opposed to Hey follow me where I'm about to take you Because you're like okay cool Well is this even comedy now?

29:04Mo Gilligan: Because this sounds like Sounds a bit like therapy bro Where's the big laugh? Where's the gag? I know and it's that I love this quote that says The audience don't come to see you they come to see themselves I love that quote I love it and it's just like how did you find Edinburgh when you was there oh I mean I've never really done a full Edinburgh I did two I mean I work smart not hard I did two nights on my tour last year on the week I knew all the industry were up so I'm like yeah come for them two nights oh that's a good night man yeah yeah yeah come and see me then when all the industry people come you're like yeah man let's just let's just get booked and busy yeah yeah let's not fuck around yeah I mean you know they pulled my sitcom a week later thanks a lot but um no i'm just well whatever you know the industry is what it is but i i don't i had a one good one one all right one i'm going i'm doing three days whip this year because i do like seeing other comedians and all that but i'm not bothered give me the clubs you know give me the king gong give me the blackout at utc like i'd i'd do that i'd do that you know i love i love i love it i love the green rooms i love the circuit i love the weirdos i love the good people i love a bit of a gem of advice i think when you're in that mix especially doing stand-up of when you first start as well it's it's really being like a fly on the wall where you're like oh so that's the process of how you write a show or yeah like you you'll be around a comic who is really big and you're like oh i didn't know that you you know you're really nervous about this and you've got you know you're writing down or how their process is or like i often find when i'm around a lot of younger guys you know they want to pick my brains and be like oh i can ask you this and ask you that and i'm like because i i have to be very chill before a show all that pacing up and down and writing and i'm like i can't do it man people see me before a show i'm like why are you so chill and i'm like bro like i have to keep treat this like how i am off stage is by the time i go on stage it feels the same i feel the same comfortability yeah to talk to an audience i'm with you on that you found a lot of success very quickly to the point where you're not you know you're just you're supporting people people like you know jack whitehall how did that feel being around comics that were like really established and you know supporting them on tour and being around them was it like a sponge to just really understand how they work and because yeah how was that for you jack yeah i mean jack whitehall was doing huge ones so i did an arena for him i did smaller venues and then did the arena and that was it's a different string to your bow then isn't it i mean you as as someone who has sold out over to arena hey man that's what they're saying on the streets man yeah it's a different you you you play big but you also realize you've got the screens of your face so you can still play small you're taking time and i think support is a different thing you start realizing that it's not a club 20 and it's not about you and it's not this you you kind of are setting it up.

32:04There's things like you might say, oh, are you talking about that? I won't cover that. And do you mention having a kid or do you know, like, so you don't want to cover any ground. You don't want to do anything too raw. And, you know, cause someone like Jack Whitehall, because of all the telly he's done, he's got kids that like know him from loads of different things. So I was surprised at how broad his audience were. I don't know whether I thought it would just be like, I always have this half of mind that an audience is just like the person coming to watch. I suppose, you know, from a lot of things you've done, you've got such a broad sort of spectrum of audience as well but so yeah it's a different skill and you know i'm always just like i i make no bones about it i'd love to sell out the o2 one day i want to i want to do those big things yeah i mean i feel like i just want it all i just want to give it all both barrels i don't see any limits on that and not in a kind of not in a grabby i want what someone else has got away but i just no you have to do the big stuff yeah you have to as a

32:56Mo Gilligan: comic you definitely have to visualize that as your career as a milestone to say like that's one of the benchmarks to play especially from london being from london as well you know in terms of an arena that is accessible and in touching distance it's like well yeah that's where i want to play yeah you know um i don't think there's anything wrong in that yeah so i just love the experiences doing that you know my tour my debut tour went crazy you know and that's just not even like you know it started off as 20 dates ended up as nearly 50 you know i sold out i sold out less than the empire oh that felt big and then i did well i did oh two indigo oh two but that was nice and big and i've sort of got my sights on apollo which felt great i thought i opened for k curd apollo which was just such a great feeling because there's something about apollo is what it feels small yeah in a weird way it does it does it's built built to perfection for what we do i suppose so you know that's the next goal i just always like it's a bit of an oprah thing or she says what's the next right thing you know and so i just like that kind of what's the next right thing for me it always feels don't go too big just like okay that's bigger that's bigger you know your circle gets bigger of where you're comfortable so all those tour supports were the start of that which is great that's where we're kind of at in your career now is where you're in your middle where you know you're building yourself up as a household name and you're doing these bigger shows um how do you find it when you start doing these bigger shows and more success comes because the minute i started doing the bigger shows i had to think more about okay cool i can't you know if i'm on a club set doing the 20s i can kind of fuck around a little bit yeah but now you know you hackney empire indigo you're like oh this isn't like as much as that there's the tour support where you're like yeah you know and i say this to anyone who ever supports me and i say listen go and do whatever you want yeah we might have the same similar thing but it's fucking fine man don't worry about it but also knowing i'm just like treat this like your show as well yeah like envision it and believe that yeah this will be you in 12 months time yeah um but the reason why i say the reason why I ask is how do you start to now tailor your stuff now to these bigger audiences where you've got more demand or people have seen you on television do you know it's it's really um funny because um you know at the start of my career I as I left teaching I was diagnosed with breast cancer which I've talked about on shows and stuff and and I really thought that when I was getting my hour together I think this is a bit of an Edinburgh thing and when I was getting my tour together that would feature really heavily right as though this is my story but as soon as them tickets started selling out i was like that that old school thing in me was like nah they've paid good money these are working people paid good money i'm giving them a show wall to wall jokes the way i'd it was like it went on sale um and then it i felt that obligation to give them a good show so i know exactly what you're talking about if it ain't funny it ain't in the show and it's like you know i wanted it stacked with jokes so and now i'm starting to do my work in progress for the next one and i know they're bigger i want to give them a good show and it is that feeling of like all my gold was in that first show because everything i've been working on and that never goes no yeah yeah but i know that i'm a different beast now from like from doing all those shows and i think the other thing i want to step into is in this middle awareness without sounding too much of a wanker is that people are fans of me.

36:36It's not like the club where I'm like, I've got to show you what I've got. They're fans of me. And actually there's a little bit now where I'm aware that I can just enjoy letting them in a bit more. This is me and having jokes and all that sort of stuff. I mean, I watched, it was just a small clip from Top Secret of Judy Love the other day. And it was just a couple of people walking in late. and you just watch Judy do this. It's pretty much all her. And she just held this space for so long. And it was like she was just being Judy Love, you know? And I thought, yeah, like, and it was gold. When I tell you, I think she must have said two sentences, but the way she held this laugh, and I thought, she's a star, she is, do you know?

37:22Like, not that I'm, I don't want to copy, but I'm saying it's that feeling of, she really knows how to be Judy Love. and I think I've got to learn to really enjoy being Laura Smith.

37:33Mo Gilligan: Yeah, you definitely have to play into who you are and what your audience wants from you because the minute you go away from that, like, you can see where an audience can have a disconnect. So it definitely makes it harder to write because you're like, I know my audience has a relatability, but also they know that my life has changed somewhat because you do a post in your house and you talk and people are looking. because I am like so you know that like I'm like I know my audience know that I've changed if I'm doing xyz they know that my life has changed but what brought you in is that I'm myself so it's trying to keep that fine balance of like you know saying like yeah like I do do this but I am also like starstruck if I meet x person do you know what I mean yeah and at your up the creek gig there was that really nice bit where you were talking about being in Japan and trying to communicate with the guy.

38:34Now, yeah, a lot of people that have been with you and followed your stuff from the beginning, no shade, are not going on, you know, work trips to Japan. Oh, they're not going to Japan.

38:44Mo Gilligan: They're like, nah, bro, this is expensive, man. Yeah, but you still are, however successful you are. And also people have contributed to success in the sense of everyone's backed you to be successful. So they like it. Do You know what I mean? They like your success. But you are still a South Londoner in Japan. Yeah, 100%. And that is, everyone can then still relate to, yeah, if I was a South Londoner, I would be watching this food be cooked and trying to have this conversation in the same way. So you still find your ins, don't you? I mean, like, Mickey Flanagan's got that joke going, oh, I know all about the cost of living crisis.

39:18My driver don't stop going on about it. That's still so Mickey, isn't it? And like, I mean, I saw Catherine Ryan, and it was when she did her Louis Theroux thing and she was working out some activity at Top Secret some material at Top Secret and she was like her she was referencing like her so you guys got a heated pool like you know what I mean like there's there's that sort of you can play with it the comedy still wins didn't it the funny still wins

39:44Mo Gilligan: didn't it how do you find a balance now also because social media has become such a big part now and a lot of comedians who I meet now who have you know, got into do stand up, let's say post probably 2016 now where like social media is now such a huge part of a stand up comedian's arsenal of posting, you know, the clips you do sharing your tour. Cause I, I know to this day that is social media that obviously I know that social media got me where I am, but when there's new gigs and stuff, I can't just rely on live nation have posted it. It's on the website. Like, you're probably checking now. They're like, nah, bro.

40:26Mo Gilligan: Unless you post it, I don't know. Listen. Do you know what I mean? Oh, you've got to do it all and then stick a broom up your ass and sweep the floor while you're at it. Do you know what I mean? Like, do you know what I think, though? It's got to feel authentic. That's not... Sorry.

40:46But I think, again, it's got to feel authentic. I might do some to-camera stuff if something makes me laugh or I'll do a daft impression and then get told off because I'm being out of order or what have you. But it's got to feel authentic. Anyone that knows how to, you know, like make sketches and all that, fair play to you. I don't know how to do it. But I am aware of like, I'll share a lot of my stories because I'm aware I've got a following. So I make sure it's active and all that sort of stuff. But, you know, I never do anything that doesn't feel comfortable. And I make a lot of time for my fans, you know.

41:15Like if someone's messaging me, I'm messaging them back and I've still got a scale where I can do that. And so, you know, I'd rather cultivate that. But yeah, I'm never going to do anything like, you know, like TikTok. I used to really maintain my TikTok and I'd pay someone to do my reels. But I find it hard work. So I've just watched it plummet. I hemorrhage followers. But I'm like, yeah, because I don't want to do it. And I don't want to be a slave to anything, really. So, yeah, I like Instagram. I'm off Twitter. I've sort of had to get a Facebook. because I don't really know what I'm doing there either.

41:50But I like Instagram, so I like it as a medium. I share stuff I find funny. People get to know me. I share a little bit about what me and the kids are up to. I'm not like a mum influence or anything. So, you know, I just do it with all of that. But yeah, when my tour finished, I was like, oh, thank God I'm not on the sales. I thought I was in a marketing team. The exhaustion of it all, mate. I was just like, what? So it is a pressure, isn't it? like just final few still still 500 final fueler still 600 actually like you've got to keep that foot on the gas mate it is yeah you can just give it a push this weekend yeah oh how many tickets

42:32Mo Gilligan: are there like what 100 no there's like 400 you're like who the fuck is coming is it 48 hours man but then it's mad because they will come they will come like you you'll walk on stage and you're like fuck where the fuck did you not come from man central tickets or when you've got to ask other comedians like oh mr whitehall jet whitehall sir just wondering if you can add this to your story so it'd be ever so kind so you've got a proper cap in hand like and not to trouble you miss miss ryan katherine ryan you've been a great supporter of my work mr gilligan i've done it to you before i just wonder if i could trouble you for a quote for me post you feel like such a you feel like a muck that's what you feel like

43:22but you know what you have to though yeah because if you don't ask you don't get it

43:26Mo Gilligan: you know i mean like and like i just like i think that's the thing like because i feel like you're a comic that's come like that kind of post social media where you know the social media game yeah Do you know what I mean? And not to say about the comedians that haven't, but, you know, if you was able to do like a Live at the Apollo where you can just, it goes on television. And I remember there was a time when I used to see it where someone, they go on television and before you know it, they're towards set out. That's it. Do you know what I mean? It ain't got the same clout now. I think, you know, you've got the Taskmasters and last one laughing that's got the same clout.

43:59But yeah, Live at the Apollo made, I mean, I always joke going, I've done Live at the Apollo on my stage and I go, anyway, here I am. Hello, hello, Bracknell. do you know what I mean I thought it was going to change my life but the clipping of those things is where the value lies most definitely

44:15Mo Gilligan: social media has definitely changed you know I've got sort of 50 ,000 followers but what I have got is 50 ,000 majority female majority 35 to 44 so when it comes to buying tickets they're buying tickets where you know a young comedian could have 500 ,000 million TikTok followers and then they go on tour and they're like no I'm 17 I don't have tour ticket money do you know what I mean so there's there's there's um what's it it's like conversion isn't it like there's a conversion i sound wicked but you know what i mean you can no it's true because i think i think what people forget to realize when it comes to going out is that there is there's an there's an older audience out there who they work and they're like what do i spend my money my money on yeah and as much as i think when you're in your, you know, your early 20s, it's, I want to go, I just want to buy the top from this place.

45:12Mo Gilligan: I want to get that thing. But then you get a bit older and you're like, I just want experiences now. Yeah. And my experience are date nights, all the girls going out, all the guys going out. Yeah. I meet a ton of guys and be like, yo, when's the next show? I want to come, man. I say, bro, go and take your woman, man. Yeah. Bring your woman, make her a date night. Yeah. And he's like, hey, bro, yeah, yeah. I say, bro, let's do that man hey brother hey I'm gonna do that you know and I said that's because that's where you are in life now do you know what I mean yeah yeah like you and your friend you and your boy going to a comedy show he's probably gonna be like hey bro I can't lie this is I don't know about this you know there's two man up but I say like go with your group of guys girls go with your girls like go as a couple because also I know that your expenditure can make you do that do you know what I mean yeah exactly that's why I say like if you're 16 it's alright I'll do the social stuff for you but I just know that you're not my target audience and that's okay you know what I mean but funny when you really did blow was that sort of 2017, 2018 off social when you went on tour and you did because my daughter came my nephew oh big ups yeah yeah yeah I was going to take her and her friends to you did a sort of matinee Leicester Square Theatre 2018 yeah yeah yeah and it was really funny so like so it's so blew up that you do have that cross section and actually all those people now those 50 are all in their 20s and having girls night out and they tell me yeah they're like oh we seen you when I was like 15 and I'm like fuck I'm old man I know it feels like that but you so appeal to everyone and that is nice to cultivate that and I love it when I get because I do stuff about my daughter and everything I get mothers and daughters coming I get lads do you know what I mean I get like the Prosecco Huns obviously they dominate but you know and then I get the older people and I get people like the teacher's crew do you know what I mean and it is nice when you think like I like it is a nice feeling and I've seen it at your shows as well where it is like couples and the girls and all this sort of stuff you know it's nice you want to feel like that you want to feel like everyone's you know at the party it feels like family party vibes I always say my crowd are like a wedding of a dysfunctional family you know like everyone's there but we somehow make it work yeah so you've got your own podcast coming up now.

47:31Mo Gilligan: I have. How are you feeling about this, man? Because it's going to be on Global. It's called Shouldn't Laugh, but it's with your best friend. Yeah. Because I feel like this is another string to your bow in some ways where, you know, as a comic, you're now able to have guests on and speak your mind on, you know, trending topics. But also it's like you're able to have something that really feeds your audience. Yeah. so how are you how are you feeling about this with your podcast now I feel really excited again in the same way we talk about jokes this is such a great like I couldn't think of a better podcast for you do you understand what I mean because we've all been at your beginning middle of the end watching it all blow literally yeah well I started it like this and you're like so this couldn't feel more like me because exactly that I don't think anything's beyond laughing at and it's that sort of it's me and my mate yeah my best mate carmen who started comedy with me actually but she the live she's one of the best writers yeah funniest person i know best comedy writers absolute comedy fan but she couldn't handle the live that live was just like i can't it's too much for me mate but so she's still one of the best writers i know and we just find everything funny um and you know it's that thing of like we could just put our voice notes onto a podcast but the tone of it is i just think there's so many you know it's like this heavy heavy podcast but it's like oh so tell me about your dad it's like let's not let's not how about that how about let's not cry and i think the world's got pretty serious because it is bloody serious let's face it i'm not denying how serious it is but i think there's a generation of people yeah right we get it you've done therapy can we stop defining ourselves by what's wrong with us please and actually because when people are so serious online and then you meet them and go oh i know yeah i did laugh at that actually and you go what like you know because i just can't i just find everything funny to be honest i think also it's just like within the pain you have to laugh as well and yeah i just feel like you know sometimes if i i'll do a pod and i'll be talking about something really serious but it's just like i'll do one of these every two years but it's like there's a lot of joy in my life yeah yeah yeah I mean, yes, it's very hard, but I've normalised the hard because that's the environment that I've come from.

49:57Well, this is it. And I think when people say like, you know, when you make a joke about something, that's not like dismissing the trauma. That's processing the trauma.

50:05Mo Gilligan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's how you cope with it. It's how you cope with it. And actually, and also it's a little bit of a confessional thing. We wanted to call it Stupid Pod because it's just us confessing our dumbest things of the week, letting other people tell their dumbest things of the week and actually then talking about dumb things that we've read, you know, just whatever things that make me laugh because sometimes you read a headline and you know you shouldn't laugh, but, you know, you are laughing. Some headlines will get you and you're like, you know when you're looking around to see if anyone else is laughing?

50:38Mo Gilligan: So that's it, it shouldn't laugh, but we're laughing. I'll be very impartial because sometimes I do see some things on Instagram and I have to go... I'm sorry. if I see someone with a crying video selfie I don't care what's happened put the ring light away you are not a serious person with the backing music oh listen if someone's cutting a reel for their comeback story at the gym I'm not here for it you just held in your tummy you did this over an afternoon stop talking I just think people have lost their minds you know like my dad's been dead a long time sorry about that but no but what he was i often sometimes think about my dad's old school east end to coming back in this day and age and seeing how we're living filming everything we're doing telling everyone our deepest darkest promoting i think he'd look at you like i think he'd look at us like we were an alien race he would think what are you doing this is someone that didn't you know didn't speak on the phone you know what i mean like he would think we've all lost our goddamn minds who wants to know do you know i mean so i sometimes i still have that view where i'm like you know because also i know people that like you know it's like when you slide in someone's dms and go yeah but actually yeah yeah i know like i saw someone promote something the other day thanks for all your likes and comments about this show and i ain't had none have you not none none at all the one the one that gets me to be like a lot of you guys have been asking come on we wasn't asking no one asked no one asked about your concealer because otherwise you just say guys this is the thing that i bought yeah blah blah blah but it's not a lot of you guys have been asking me when the three people no no no three people two of them had burner accounts because they were pussy holes like that's another thing that gets me like as much i love social media like i love reading the comments but every part gets to I'm like, if you need a burner account, like it's such a different level of pussy.

52:41Say it with your chest, man.

52:42Mo Gilligan: Just tell me I'm an idiot. Let me go on your page and see your face at least and give a scroll and be like, you're fucking ugly children, bro. How dare you? But then leave it there and say, you know what? Cool. At least your profile's open. But the fact that you go on a burner account and say, I need to see this, but I can't let them know it's me. It's like, ah, you are, it's just a scumbag pussy. I know, I know. Do you know what I mean? It's just wanting to, because we do read them, it's just that little thing of they want to take you down a peg or two. They just want to chip away at you slightly.

53:11Mo Gilligan: I know, but with a burn heart. With a burn heart. It's so like... Just say it with chest, man. But when you... And even that, like there's so many things, like I have a joke about people making horrible comments on, you know, some of my videos from Live at the Apollo and I go, it made me cry in my new bathroom. Fuck them. Do you know what I mean? Because sometimes you've got to just laugh because it hurts for a minute and then you laugh oh man have I had those moments boy where I'm like what am I worried about and I look around I'm like how bad could it be man if this is the tip of the iceberg hey this is a fine tip this is what I mean I'm doing good this is alright and Dave Dave from Chingford yeah yeah yeah thinks I'm not funny it's alright it's alright it's okay man don't worry man my agent my PR team and my accountant think I'm funny I'm good yeah Susie Ruffles said alright I'm not funny but my house says that I am so go with that and that was a yeah my house says that I am good girl so um your end right your end is interesting because you did get diagnosed with with cancer as well yeah um and does that kind of like shape like your legacy in some ways because you went you had chemotherapy radiotherapy and then you appeared on like Live at the Apollo like literally after just after you had like treatment and stuff yeah but is it like because it really gives me this i don't know it's just like to be at that stage of your life but also know that you want to provide everyone with with joy yeah do you know what i mean it's also something where you're like i don't know it just i don't know what that must feel like but i must imagine there must be like for your legacy of you know moving on and what you want to do for your career it must be like well i can i can literally do anything yeah it must feel like almost like i don't know you ever watched a superhero film where someone knows they have the power yeah but they ain't tested out yet yeah yeah yeah and we're just waiting to be like superman just fucking fly yeah yeah yeah we know you can do it do you know what i mean how how does that start to shape like your legacy in some ways in your end absolutely everything because we all know we're gonna die but a cancer diagnosis will really get you think real like facing your mortality yeah and you know and i i i saw it as a death sentence you know i really did and i had to dig so deep to undo some stuff in me you know you know because i thought live or die i don't want to carry anything in me that doesn't serve me anymore so what how am i trying to say this like

56:07my life hasn't always been easy and it's been a fight and before you know i i kind of there were things my childhood might have been tough and there were things and you say that and it's like people go oh she had a tough childhood i'm not talking about my mom and dad and all that i'm saying childhood is tough you know i mean things weren't straightforward and you know i lost my dad when i was young i've been through some stuff you know i was a young single mom i've been in temporary accommodation even going back to uni with my daughters these are the beginnings these are tough beginnings and me and my friends feel like we've had a hard life we always say soft life now you know because then all of a sudden you know i quit work ready for this career and i was crunky about it you know i was like oh i'm get this and get that and i thought when when that diagnosis is weird you go oh i just want to be alive that's all i want i want to be alive and if that's your baseline to be alive you really don't want to i don't want to beat cancer you know if anyone ever does you know or get well again to live my life on anyone else's terms it has to be on my terms my life and I fully wholly embrace the joy of my life and as much as the doctors I always said the doctors can treat the cancer but I did a lot of alternative stuff I did a lot of sort of alternative therapies I did a lot of healing right and what that taught me is how much I lived sort of gritted teeth and in the future and if if if if if this you know in the future I've learned to be very present sometimes I don't even know what I'm doing tomorrow I have to check my google I check it on there because you have to be present because there's only now so I really is I really love people and I really love myself I said this thing where when I got diagnosed I thought at least it ain't happened to someone I love and then I thought oh oh i don't count myself as someone as a love you know someone i love so i really got busy working out how to really love myself not to to do to expect good things for myself to allow myself to feel the permission to have them to feel whole in that and be unapologetic in that and so when i say i want all these big things and i want a big hat i do i deserve it you know i've played small before i've played humble i've played paranoid i've played wanting people to like me don't like me it's all right johnny chigwell or whatever you know and it's all right you know this might because i can't live on anyone else's terms i've done that when i was teaching oh i'm a good girl oh look i'm married oh i'm this i don't care i've got rid of any sort of sense of like shame or playing small i want to play big because life is big and it's so nice so I'm so nice yeah that is it I'm like I like it so I like life because I've I've had to fight for it and I ain't fought for it to play small I want it all give it to me both barrels thanks

59:01Mo Gilligan: and I really believe that man I think like seeing you at the at the show I'd done at the creek a few months ago and like again I'm not saying it's just because you're here I had big belly laughs like And just seeing in terms of like, from coming from, I guess, like extremely humble beginnings of, you know, in East London to selling out shows. Like, it's not easy. It doesn't matter what magnitude it is. Whether you sell out. Industry is not easy. Like 400 can't be taken for granted in central London. Do you know what I mean? It's like, you got to get people to leave their house. They got to buy a train ticket.

59:44Mo Gilligan: Come out, maybe have a meal. Babysitters. Because I know that that's also an audience that we have where, you know, they're like, this is our escapism. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, I genuinely see that happening for you. Do you know what I mean? From when you get to play the Hackney Empires and the Indigos, not easy places to sell out for anyone, you know. And the fact that you've able to do them in such a short time and knowing that the beauty of comedy is that it's a longevity game as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So when you get to do those things early on, everything is just like, I'm on a bonus levels now, you know?

1:00:22Mo Gilligan: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, this didn't take me 20 years to do. No. And all I also really care about is this, I just want to feed my audience. I just want to make them laugh. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? If whatever comes out of it, whether it's the sitcoms or the podcast or the tours, you're like, this is a bonus. Because where I'm from, like, people like me don't even understand the situations that I'm in. Yeah. let alone experience them as well. That's it. Do you know what I mean? There was some, sometimes like my best mate see me when I was doing my Radio 4 show and she was sort of in the green room and I had like, my PR team and my makeup.

1:00:58And I had a sort of team run. She was like, she was like, Laura,

1:01:02Mo Gilligan: like what is going on? Do you know what I mean? But she, you know, she loves it. We've been through it together, me and her. And, you know, I see how many people you bring through with you. It is like, what's it all? We're doing it for freedom, aren't we? We're doing it for, creative freedom and let's not lie financial freedom when you've got options to not go out on a sunday or a saturday night that's what you're doing it for you ain't doing it to make it hard work and sometimes things if they feel hard work and i don't like doing them and that don't not say i don't like hard work when they feel like hard work or i'm doing them for the wrong reasons in fact the minute i say should i shut things down yeah i should do this because if it don't feel like good in my gut i don't want to do it i'm telling you man the gut is is the real when you feel it you're like something's off here you know yeah i don't know if this is for me today yeah and it's true and the minute you can have a hundred like you have so many voices and you know i've got a great agent and we really tussle things out where you know we'll go through something you know we might marry it might marinate for a couple of days and go you know what i think i've got to say no and she'll go yep all right i'm with you you know and i love that I've got that relationship I'd hate to have anything where I felt like I was you've seen people when they just get really rinsed and you think who's advising them here I think sometimes healthy no's are good isn't they oh man it's sometimes the best part of your career but also the thing that can get you so much more valuable yeses yes of opportunity of finance but also of just experience yeah where the saying no's makes you get bigger yeses oh really yeah more worthwhile yeses but they're scary isn't they oh yeah man you know you don't want to say no to something and being like oh my god have i just said no to what could be potentially yeah the biggest thing ever but also knowing that you're just like it's at the time that's not where i was yeah you know and and you know my kids are such a great filter for that because i really keep a balance with them you know july and august you're not seeing me do very much really do you know i mean that that's kids time with my kids and i feel like i mean i need to start buying a house because i just the problem is i started earning some nicer of money nicer than teaching after getting diagnosed so as i said to my husband i said babes after skiing and barbados and disneyland we'll start saving and that's just the issue but i want i want to enjoy life i don't really care and i think that's another thing from me a south london and east london thing but it's like people are used to feast and famine because not everyone's making their money clean as well so you know if money comes you're like hey oh like get rid of it and then that was always it and then their struggle days come and you're like i can handle that too sometimes me and my husband joke going you know once the tax bill's been paid you go listen we can make some dinners out of some lentils mate we're quite we're like we should save this money actually because we're quite good on a budget nothing makes you want to start saving it's like yeah you've got to put your corporation in your VAT you're like what who fucking ate you're like oh shit it's real my first VAT bill was backdated I I it's real you're like this ain't fair but then you've booked a whole you're on Expedia like high to low oh maybe it comes in half board I might let's keep looking when you judge the agent from high to low because you look at them lows like oh who the fuck is staying there and you're like that used to be me you know ah it hits different man it's weird isn't it and it all happens gradually so I know I'm still in my middle but my god I'm going to be bashy over my end.

1:04:37It's going to be embarrassing. I'm already embarrassed by how she's going to spend money.

1:04:43Mo Gilligan: Laura, it's been a pleasure, man, just to have you on the pod. Your story, I think, once a lot of people listen to this, is massively inspiring. But, you know, a lot of people often say to me, it's like, oh, you know, I want to do comedy. And, you know, like, I don't know. And I just feel like you're such a naturally funny person. And there's so many people out there that I feel like represent like yourself. do you know what I mean where you're like oh you know I'm a teacher from East London and like I'm funny but I don't know how to go about doing it and just seeing how you can have you know you grow up in a in very humble beginnings and you have a job and you're like I want to do this thing and it's just like yeah like you know in five months to to win an award and before you know it you're supporting the lots of you know your Jack Whitehalls and you're doing live at apollo it it gives people the you know the the hopes and the dreams that you're like oh wow i just feel like i can relate to you yeah and that's what i want to do yeah and i think that's so important for handing over the blueprint to anyone who's like um like i just like your comedy and that's just this is it i see myself in it to be to represent people and you go and i knew it from teaching often it's that crossing the threshold like you know you take kids on trips and they they didn't know those places were for them yeah they're for you and that's why representation is so important working class representation you know black representation of you know people saying oh look yeah okay yeah i see myself in them so maybe that's something i can access and yeah man it's powerful so thank you for well you give me great opportunities i was on the mo gilligan show five minutes that was all good so thanks you bring a lot of people through and it's that's that's powerful no you have to man i'm not when i'm as big as you forget that i'm pulling up that ladder fuck them Laura man it's been a pleasure man but this has been your beginning middle and end thank you very much thank you thank you appreciate that man hey what's up thank you so much for listening to the podcast today now a lot goes in to making each episode I know you hear my voice but there's a team behind the scenes who helped make it and if you did enjoy it I'd really really appreciate if you could show the love to them by giving us five stars and if you also have the time please leave us a review it's always appreciated and we love reading in the comments and of course we want to keep making it better thank you for listening and have a great day peace